Video: Howard implores you to help 'Save the Centers'

For All-Star balloting purposes -- and in the general lineup construction of coaches around the league -- the traditional center designation is no more. The giants who once dominated the low block with post-up after post-up and sat half-parked in the paint to deter opponents from driving are now extinct, made defunct by necessary rule changes and basketball's gradual evolution. But Dwight Howard is here to save those who have been made into refugees by the shift, those underprivileged centers that have been left positionless and alone as a result of changes across the NBA.

It's not a bad concept for a quick YouTube hit, and the parallels between Howard's hotline plea and the Sarah McLachlan spot championing the SPCA's fight against animal cruelty should be obvious to any patron of late-night NBA viewing. There are certainly some funny, well-executed moments, but kudos to you if you can stomach Howard's belting toward video's end. You're a more patient viewer than I.